Methodist Church

The Methodist Church in Cades Cove.

Although the Cades Cove Methodist Church was organized in the
1820s, few early records of the church still exist. It is
believed the church was started through the efforts of circuit
riders, such as George Eakin.

It was included among the churches in Holston Conference's Little
River Circuit in 1830. The original church meeting place
consisted of a log structure with a fire pit and a dirt floor.
John D. McCampbell would construct the church building which still
stands in Cades Cove today in 1902.

McCampbell, a carpenter who was also the pastor of the church,
built the new structure in 115 days for $115. The building
featured two front doors, a common feature of architectural feature
in the 1800s, which allowed men to enter and sit on one side of the
chapel and women and children on the other.

Where some churches of the day featured an actual physical
divider between the two sides, the Cades Cove Methodist Church
permitted its congregants to sit where they pleased. The
church's cemetery is the second-oldest in the cove and contains at
least 100 graves.

As was the case with much of Cades Cove, the church was affected
greatly by the Civil War. Divisions among the congregation
during both the war and Reconstruction resulted in a church split
and the formation of the Hopewell Methodist Church.

The Hopewell building no longer stands, however, while visitors
can still visit the Cades Cove Methodist Church today. The
building visitors can view on the driving tour is the structure
built in 1902.